‘Strange Looking Creature’ artist reception is Aug. 22 in DeKalb

The DeKalb Area Women’s Center will host “Strange Looking Creature,” a photographic art collection by Bernadette Curl-Woodruff, through August.

An artist reception will be held from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 22 at the center, 1021 State St., DeKalb. The evening will feature beverages, hors d’oeuvres and live music by Randy Harvey and Beaverhead.

“Strange Looking Creature” showcases life-sized photographic works reflecting Curl-Woodruff’s unique worldview. The pieces blend analog and digital photography, influenced by her background in metal and woodwork. Her work also explores themes of identity, perception and legacy through self-portraiture and still life.

“Self portraiture is an open confrontation with the discomforting feeling of being perceived by others,” Curl-Woodruff said in a news release. “It’s not about ego or vanity – it’s about encountering one’s own form in strange and delicate parallel realities.”

Curl-Woodruff is a northern Illinois-based photographic artist whose work often centers on life at the margins of society and the metaphysical weight of personal and cultural legacy.

“It’s an honor to share this work at the Women’s Center and to explore what it means to be a woman in this time and place,” Curl-Woodruff said in the release. ”I’m especially interested in how the work – mounted without protective glass to age naturally – will interact with the space and how audiences will respond to its lived-in quality in the light of those beautiful windows.”

For information, visit dekalbawc.org, email elisa.woodruff@gmail.com or visit bkc-w.com.